17th January 1918 Thursday
Back to France!
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“I left Victoria Station at 7.30 a.m. on the 17th January for France once more. It was raining heavily, and I felt very miserable. The leave-taking sights at the station made me worse. There were huge crowds out to see us off.
To console myself I had a second breakfast on the train. We sailed from Folkestone at noon. I had to stay in Boulogne over-night and put up at the ‘Hotel de Paris’ feeding at the ‘Hotel Folkestone’.”
Douglas’s consoling second breakfast indicates that he may have caught the Pullman again. No such luxuries a hundred years on, he may have been lucky to find a refreshment trolley serving a sandwich and something masquerading as a cup of coffee. Of course even boat trains to the now defunct Folkestone Harbour are a thing consigned to history, superseded by the Channel Tunnel.
Troop laden Folkestone to Boulogne
Find out about our connection with Dr Page and an introduction to his diary here